biography
| name: |
Laing, R(onald) D(avid)
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pronunciation:
[lang]
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1927–89)
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| biography:
| Psychiatrist, born in Glasgow, W Scotland, UK. He studied at the University of Glasgow, where he practised as a psychiatrist (1953–6). He joined the Tavistock Clinic in London in 1957, and the Tavistock Institute for Human Relations in 1960. He is noted for his studies of schizophrenia, and published his revolutionary ideas in The Divided Self (1960), which suggested that psychiatrists should not attempt to cure mental illness (a term he repudiated), but should encourage patients to view themselves as going through an enriching experience - a view which came to be called ‘anti-psychiatry’. His writings extended from psychiatry into existential philosophy, and later into poetry. |
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